Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

<strong>Draft</strong> <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development
Chapter III
Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador have made substantial progress with the inclusion of Afrodescendent
identification in health information systems, an experience of great value when it comes to moving towards
continuous records of some other type, which Brazil has in fact done. As regards surveys, most of the countries
evince the same shortcomings as need remedying in the case of indigenous peoples, with sample sizes too
small to yield disaggregated estimates. Besides, even when it is possible to break down information, this is
not done systematically.
The table III.9 data also show that much remains to be done on follow-up. If it were desired to construct a
baseline using the Montevideo Consensus result indicators, it would only be possible to do so with the censuses
of the 2010s in most of the countries, meaning its scope would be limited to this data source. Consequently,
it is essential to step up actions to make timely, reliable information available over time. Uruguay has <strong>report</strong>ed
that, as part of the National Public Policy Strategy for the Afro-Uruguayan and Afrodescendent Population
2017-2030, work is ongoing to determine the relevant dimensions and indicators and prepare a budget to
allow specific policies and programmes to be designed and implemented (Government of Uruguay, 2017).
Once Afrodescendent self-identification has been included, it is essential to disaggregate, disseminate
and analyse the data. Again as in the case of indigenous peoples, another challenge is to enhance countries’
capabilities, whether in State bodies or in Afrodescendent organizations, in the interests of using the information
effectively and influencing policy. Numerous training activities have been carried out in these areas throughout
the region in the past decade, but these need to be both coordinated and sustained over time, for which
steady funding is indispensable.
It must be ensured that Afrodescendent organizations participate in information production, dissemination
and analysis, as required by international standards. This is essential so that the quality of the data collected
can be improved, these organizations can validate and take ownership of State figures and information can
be increasingly democratized. The censuses of the 2010s did make progress in this respect, as mechanisms
for Afrodescendants’ participation were generated in the great majority of the countries, and in the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru these mechanisms were institutionalized for the production of ethnicracial
statistics in general (i.e., not only the census). In 2015, Colombia established a process of consultation
and concertation between the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) and Afrodescendent
organizations and peoples for the purpose of preparing and implementing the 2018 National Population and
Housing Census. Although all such efforts are valuable, there is a long way to go before these populations’
right to information is guaranteed.
6. Conclusions
In Latin America, people belonging to the African diaspora, whether enslaved or free, remained in a disadvantageous
position over the centuries, a process that was entrenched with the creation and consolidation of nation States,
carried out in a way that disregarded the Afrodescendent contribution to the social and cultural development
of the Latin American nations. Despite the adverse context the Afrodescendent population has had to face,
its struggle and resistance, which began with slavery, have endured down to the present. Currently, the
structural inequality that constrains their status as citizens and the exercise of their human rights continues
to mobilize Afrodescendent women, men and communities, who have acted through their organizations
to develop different strategies for conveying their political demands and claims to governments and to the
institutions that stand surety for citizen rights and positioning them on national, <strong>regional</strong> and international
agendas, chiefly during the current century.
In recent years, the countries have made differing degrees of progress with the creation of institutional
and legal frameworks for the struggle against racial discrimination and with the implementation of affirmative
actions and inclusion policies based on an ethnic-racial approach. Afrodescendent organizations, for their part,
have continued to struggle and press for the closing of implementation gaps between legal frameworks and the
day-to-day reality of Afrodescendants, who encounter numerous obstacles to the effective exercise of their rights.
199